Common Soil Community Farm - start-up

Our vision is of people connected to, nourished by, and working in harmony with, the natural environment to produce food locally. Become part of this exciting new community farm project by supporting us to set it up.

Why we plan to set up a new community farm

• There are many people in Stroud wanting a regular, locally-grown, chemical-free weekly vegetable box and to be connected to where and how it’s grown. Stroud Community Agriculture (SCA) has a huge waiting list for their veg boxes and most vegetable stalls at the weekly farmer's market travel in from other parts of the county or further afield.
• Producing food locally, without chemicals and with respect for the land and biodiversity, makes such an important contribution to reducing carbon emissions, damage to the environment and our health.
• In recent times the importance of food security has been highlighted and can be addressed by sustainably and locally-produced food.
• It’s a fulfilling community activity to be involved in, bringing back connection to nature, our food and each other.

What the community farm will offer

Our mission is to create a place where all kinds of people can come to connect with food growing, the land and each other. With your support, we will offer:

• Weekly, chemical-free vegetable boxes, supplemented by herbs and fruit.
• Opportunities for people, including vulnerable individuals, to engage with the food growing and support their health, nourishment, purpose, skills and sense of belonging.
• Seasonal celebrations, farm tours and workshops around food production to support learning and to enjoy the produce together.
• The chance for members to have a say in how the farm is run and food is produced and to support the growers through all the seasons.

Who we are

We're a group of 9 people who’ve been working to set up Common Soil community farm (with SCA’s blessing). Here’s who a few of us are:

• Allison, Alec, Ama, Daniela, Tamsin and Riem – all experienced local growers who have worked organically and biodynamically in the past.
• Bernard – a grower who helped to set-up Stroud Community Agriculture and now sits on their core group and ours.
• Georgie – a charity sector advisor who supports community organisations to be strong and to make the biggest difference. 
• Jess - helping us out with communications.

There are also around eight other volunteers who've been helping out at our growing site when they can.

We've already grown from digging our first beds around 18 months ago...

...to getting initial growing established...

We've learnt so much in that time about what grows best on the site, how to pack and store, built a volunteer base and generated local interest in our vegetable boxes. All those involved are putting in between one and three days a week on a voluntary basis at the moment. We now want to take it to the next stage and expand what we can provide to, and with, the community.

Money we need to raise:

We're looking to raise £6,000 from the community. We plan to match that with grant funding from promising opportunities we're exploring, so we have the £12,000 needed to get set up by the next growing season to produce regular vegetable boxes and begin events.

It’s not easy to secure funding for the start-up period, without a record of grant history, so we’re hoping the community can rally round to support us! Our current growers and volunteers are also donating time and money to the project, in addition to the money we're looking to raise.

The funding is for equipment such as: a polytunnel, tools, fencing, seeds, compost, netting, fleece etc. and to pay land rent. There will also be several months after planting before we can generate any income from vegetable sales to support the growers. In future, the farm will be financially self-sufficient from vegetable box sales and membership fees.

Structure and membership

We've recently registered Common Soil as a Community Benefit Society and we will work under the Community Supported Agriculture model, which is described as “…a partnership between farmers and consumers in which the responsibilities, risks and rewards of farming are shared.”

The farm will have two kinds of membership:

• Community members who support the farm with a small monthly subscription (around £3 per month) and can have a say in its development as well as access to the farm for work sessions or social events, workshops and celebrations.
• Vegetable share members who pay weekly for a share of the produce, as well as community membership.

We will ensure that the cost of membership does not preclude anyone from joining by offering bursaries and open engagement sessions.

We need your help

Please help us to get this initiative properly set up and running for the next growing season to benefit many local individuals, protect the environment and invest in sustainable ways of feeding people for the future. 

If you aren’t able to help financially at the moment we’ll also gratefully accept any donations of large cardboard boxes you have (for use covering beds and suppressing weeds). Please get in touch to arrange to drop them at the field.

For more information about anything to do with the community farm (e.g. register interest in veg boxes, volunteering or membership) please contact us on: [email protected]

Thank you!